DA's last-hour push: grab your ID, polls close at 9pm

The Democratic Alliance spent the final hours of voting telling supporters the race for the country’s towns and cities was not over, and that every vote still counted.

In a post on its official X account, the party urged anyone who had not yet voted to take their identity document to their registered voting station before polls closed at 9pm. Voters still in line at that hour would be allowed to vote, the post said.

The message was framed as a late get-out-the-vote appeal rather than a policy statement. “The race for our towns and cities is not over,” the party wrote, adding that voting was still under way and that there was still time to cast a ballot. The post carried the party’s #VoteDA hashtag.

The DA’s appeal rests on the argument that control of local government is decided in the closing hours of a tight contest, and that supporters who stay home hand the advantage to rivals. The party has long presented itself as the main alternative in municipal government, and its campaign messaging has centred on turning out its own voters rather than on persuading the supporters of other parties.

The post did not name any rival party, cite turnout figures or make claims about the state of the count. It gave no indication of how voting had gone during the day.

The party’s instruction to voters was specific: bring an ID, go to the station where you are registered, and remain in the queue if you arrive before the 9pm cutoff. Under the electoral rules, a voter who is in line when polls close is entitled to cast a ballot.

For the DA, the closing appeal is the last lever it has before counting begins. What the party said on Wednesday evening is now a matter of record. What voters did with it will show in the results.